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The Dominionist Movement That's Undermining Democracy

Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin have all flirted with Christian Right Dominionism, but there's lots of misinformation about just what that means.

Dominionists want to impose a form of Christian nationalism on the United States, a concept that was dismissed as eroding freedom and democracy by the founders of our country. Dominionism has become a major influence on the right-wing populist Tea Parties as Christian Right activists have flooded into the movement at the grassroots.

Chip Berlet has an informative article on Talk2Action.com about Dominionism. (It's also on Daily Kos.) Arguably, Dominionism is an academic term insofar as not all Dominionists and perhaps the vast majority of those the Christian Right who have been influenced by Dominionism do not use the term themselves. As summarized on the Wikipedia entry for Dominionism:

In 2005, Clarkson enumerated the following characteristics shared by all forms of dominionism:[21]

1. Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should once again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.2. Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.3. Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, insofar as they believe that the Ten Commandments, or "biblical law," should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblical principles.[21]

The term soft dominionism is applied by critics to various Christian Right social and political movements that claim that "America is a Christian nation". Soft Dominionists also disclaim the existence of the "wall of separation" between church and state. In her book Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, Michelle Goldberg called this tendency "Christian Nationalism".[22] [Chip] Berlet and [Frederick] Clarkson have agreed that "[s]oft Dominionists are Christian nationalists."[64]